Pawns and Pieces
by AntebellumHope
Summary: The things we do can change our lives, for better or for worse. Something I have done must have been for worse. I was pulled off the frontlines of a gruesome campaign to babysit wannabe soldiers that wouldn't last a day in the jungle. There are few hopefuls and then post looks to be a waiting ground for my death. The only question is when it will come.


**Sharineda**

I wasn't sure if it was the headache that I had woken up with or the fact that it hadn't left or in spite of the fact that I was in a very bad mood I had been force-fed one of the greenest underlings in the cosmos, but whatever the reason, the throbbing in my skull had gradually worsened to a dull roar. The girl - Lilith or Lilauna or something - had fallen over herself into my tent around midday. She was pale and rail thin and looked like the polearm I was about to hand her.

"Have you been briefed on your assignment?"

"No, ma'am."

"Don't address me as 'ma'am.' I don't need to feel any older."

"Then what shall I call you, m'lady?" She sounded unsure of her permission to ask.

"That'll work." I cleared my throat and absently scratched at Matlokaz's mane. The tiger purred under my touch and sat up a little straighter as I unwillingly turned my full attention to the greenhorn. "Now. What I am about to tell you is very simple. You fail, you're out. You die, you stay there. You come back wounded, I send you to the healers."

The last part came out in more of a snarl, and the girl blanched slightly. Well, at least she was smart enough to know nuance when she heard. "Y-yes, ma'-m'lady."

I deftly twirled the pike around and let it fly on the third upstroke. I was more impressed than I cared to admit that she caught it before it went through her skull. One of the others hadn't been as lucky. "All you have to do is go hunt. The prowlers in the wood have been taking more of the camp's supplies than I am comfortable with. Bring back anything useful from the corpses and any strewn rations you come across."

"Yes, Lady Sharineda." And she was mercifully gone for a few hours.

"Thank the heavens." I muttered. A low, inconsistent purr came from my companion. "Stop laughing. They're getter greener every season and you know it."

I shrugged off my cloak and sheath and hung my axe over the back of my seat before I sat on the dirt floor. Matlokaz inched his way over to me and let me lean against his warm fur. The heat he radiated was soothing on my neck and shoulders, and I massaged his broad neck for a few minutes.

"Do you think she'll come back in one piece?"

He arched his shoulders and relaxed quickly. A shrug.

"Do you think she'll come back?"

Another shrug.

"Can you give any other answers?"

A pause...followed by another shrug.

"You are no help." I sighed and stood, bracing myself for yet another exciting day of paperwork, botched commands, and injured wannabes.

It was after dusk before we were finally free from all the red tape that came with running a training outpost in the middle of Thrall knows where. Matlokaz scampered off after Thrall knows what in the woods and I was headed to the makeshift infirmary. The lean-to looked liked more of a hazard to those it housed than whatever put them there, and Elsa, who was sure had spotted me long ago, was scowling at one of her charges as I approached.

"Now what." I asked.

"Bum leg number three today." She glanced at me from under her cropped bangs. "How many more of them should I expect?"

"Hey, it's not my fault they can't fight." I snapped defensively.

"But it is your fault they go out into the wood and get mauled!"

"I can't teach someone who can't survive a day - LESS than a day - with the kitties!"

"That's why you teach them first!?"

"It's called 'weeding'. If there is no talent to be taught, why bother? We are just wasting the resources of the warchief, our people, and the nearby villagers who are only just tolerating our presence for fear of Hellscream!"

"What about MY resources? I have only so many potions, and I can't keep wasting them on those you have 'weeded!' And I can't just up and leave with my 'pretty little flower basket,' as you call it, to gather more herbs. I have no apprentice or healmate to tend to the newly wounded."

A blur of motion caught our eyes -which were only inches from each other's - and we turned. Matlokaz was watching the fight from a safe distance.

I pointed at him. "Stay out of this."

He growled, displeased, but ducked his head in a bow and trotted off.

"Look, Elsa. Can you stretch your supplies for another week?"

The fiery old woman stopped glowering at me long enough to run a few mental calculations. "It would be close, but I think I could. Can you send me an able body for a change?"

I thought back to Lilith. IF she managed to come back relatively intact, perhaps I could stick her with Elsa. As ornery as the healer was, she DID have a point. I needed more of her kind in this outpost if it was going to get off the ground and be useful one day.

"I MAY have someone for you, but I'm not promising you anything or anyone."

I turned sharply on my heel without waiting for a reply. "Send the worst ones out with the envoy coming by in the morning, and patch up whoever's left. They are to report to myself or to Lord Matlokaz no later than nightfall tomorrow."

I left behind a volley of curse words, trudged to my tent, and unceremoniously stripped off my gear. There was a soft purr behind me and then I had a rather large cat sitting on my bed, staring at me.

"You come in at THE most inopportune times, y'know that?"

He licked his lips and kept staring.

"You are sitting on my robe."

He blinked.

I sighed. "Fine, keep it." I half-heartedly searched through the chest at the foot of the bed for SOMETHING to cover my nearly naked body.

"Oof!" The robe landed on my head with a _plop!_

"At least it's warm." I looked at him and exploded. "WHY are you staring at me, you annoying creature?!"

He feigned a wounded look and dramatically 'died' on the cot. I sat down on the edge of the mattress and nudged him, knowing I was being mocked. "Is this about the Elsa thing?"

No response.

I shoved what I could of his limp body to one side and laid down. "Thanks."

And we slept.

**Lilith**

Being alone in the wild was not as fun as my brothers made it sound. The predators were watching me as closely as I had been watching them. My throat was dry, and my tongue had virtually glued itself to the roof of my mouth, but stopping to drink was the last thing I should do. If ever my eyes halted their roaming, the cats seem to know, and they gathered more and gathered closer. The polearm was growing heavy from hours of holding it, switching hands, and trying not to skewer my own feet. My pack's contents jingled and crunched against themselves as I moved, attempting to shake the latest of the starving beasts. An elder tree up ahead had a pitted, marred trunk perfect for climbing. I wouldn't have much of a head start on the cat, but if I could ditch my sack, I could run more swiftly and silently.

I slowed my pace to match what I could hear of the stalker. The animal was hungry, careless. His breaths were angry and ragged and hot on my legs as I strode as calmly as I could. And without warning, I dropped and brought the hilt of the pike around to the cat's skull. He yelped and fell over, stunned for the moment.

A moment I didn't waste.

I sprinted for the tree and jumped, hefting my spry frame halfway up the trunk and into the thickest of the leaves by the time the wounded beast had recovered his senses. I threw my pack into a rotted hollow and moved up and out into the branches. The prowler hissed as he followed my scent and studied the tree, seeking the most direct way to his prey. Through the broad leaves, I could see a trickle of red on the cat's fur. A drop or two wound its way down the beast's leg and onto its paw, and he hungrily licked up his own blood.

If I threw the polearm now, while he was distracted, I had a better chance of hitting him, but if I missed…

And suddenly that was no option because it was there. In the tree. With me. With snack-sized little me.

Had I had more of my wits about me, I might have still opted to throw my spear at close quarters or jumped down to the hollow and grabbed my pack and ran or even screamed for help. But as it stood, I was too terrified to do anything but meet the ravaged eyes as they walked out onto my branch and blocked any hope I had of escape.

The standoff lasted...minutes? hours?

My legs were trembling with fatigue, and shudders were running through the tired predator's body as well. With one last mighty roar, my enemy decided that a meal was worth the risk and lunged. Following the prowler's forward energy, I fell onto my back and held up the spear. A blood curdling scream deafened me as hot liquid and insides made their way out. The dying animal went limp, and under its momentum and weight, the thin limb holding us cracked once and broke, sending us careening toward the very, very hard earth.

Whatever part of my conscious mind made me think that I could join Horde army and survive got a rather rude wake up call when I hit the ground. The big cat was dead, tongue hanging out over my face and all. I was pretty sure the hottest of the multicolored puddles saturating my hair was the remainder of the precious little I had eaten the day before. My head spun in innumerable circles and I didn't bother with the chore of standing.

_This is what it feels like to be dying. _I thought.

And then I tried to move.

Pain like I had never felt raced through my limbs, paralyzing me and taking my breath.

_I take it back! I take it back! THIS is death!_

I groaned. Perhaps just laying there, under the already rotting corpse, was the best option. I tracked the path of the first moon across the sky from the crest of the mountains until it reached midpoint in the sky before I decided that I was not, in fact, anywhere near my death bed. As I attempted to shimmy out from under the deadweight, the ball of agony that had been waiting for my movement sprang up from my back and into my joints.

I cried out and collapsed. The tree, the damn tree, was mere yards from my crippled fingertips. All I need was that bag, which I had left a good ways above my head. In my hunt for what supplies I could find, I stumbled across a medical crate of concoctions. One of them surely was a healing potion. Gritting my teeth, I stood. The familiar hand- and footholds didn't make the trek any easier, but within an hour, I shakily fell into the hollow after my sack.

The red potions...my sister had said that the red potions are the good ones. I popped the cork off the first vial I touched and sniffed. The scent was earthy and soothing, and I drank. A warm sensation spread from my core outward, searching for nooks and crannies in my body.

...relaxing...

...helping…

...drifting….

**Sharineda**

It was late morning on the the third day of her training when what was left of Lilith stumbled back into camp. She was encased in gore and stunk and seemed to be hobbling more than walking toward the sentries.

The guard swiftly caught the inexperienced soldier as she collapsed from relief. "Elsa!"

"Out of my way!" I pushed aside the watchman and dug through the sack laying beside Lilith. "Take this, and fill it with water." The guard ran off.

"Great! Just great!"

I turned to catch the hotheaded healer just before she would have trampled me and the girl.

"Out of my way, _commander." _She sneered.

I growled, "Out of mine, _heals."_

The sentry ran up behind me and handed me the water, cool and crisp from the river. I knelt, lifting the girl's neck. She moaned and shook.

"Are you awake?"

"...my back…"

"Is that a yes or a no?"

Elsa snatched the water from my hand. "She's in no shape to answer your questions. Even someone as dense as YOU should be able to tell when someone is conscious."

I was gripping the plating on my belt so tight my palm started to bleed. A soft bump knocked me out of the anger induced stupor, and Matlokaz nudged me aside to sit beside Elsa and stare at Lilith.

Lilith's eyes roaming blankly from me to the tiger to Elsa before finally fixing on the water. She started to pant. "..p-please...please...please.."

Elsa hastily cupped her hand behind Lilith's neck and tipped the vial so that a slow trickled spilled into the dry mouth. Matlokaz was purring in approval as some color returned to the thin face and she sat up under her own power.

"So you're not as useless as you look." I observed. Finally, someone who made it back none the worse for wear.

Elsa and Matlokaz I silenced with a hand, giving the girl an opportunity to defend herself. She swayed as she rose. "No. No, m'lady."

"Good. Now, I want you to report to my tent one hour before supper. Do not -"

"Dontcha t'ink the girl be needin' a reprieve from all dat running around in da woods?" Matlokaz chuckled as he bent and stretched, slowly morphing back to his true form.

Lilith looked like she was going to fall over again. 'You-you're-"

"I be a da Darkspear, little one." At his full height, he towered over her -and most of us here- by a good two and half feet. "Dontcha be worryin' too much about other dan sleep. We'll not disturb ya rest for one night, and consider us merciful henceforth."

The troll lumbered off toward the quarters we shared, leaving a pale Lilith in his wake. "He talks."

"And so do you, both of which I can't say I'm pleased with at the moment. Take to your bunk while you can. I'll have your new gear sent to you."

She snapped a rather lackluster salute I didn't bother returning as I picked up her finds and headed after Matlokaz.


End file.
